Black Myth: Wukong grabs surprise Game of the Year win at the Golden Joysticks

Black Myth: Wukong, the debut game from Chinese developer Game Science, has swept past the likes of Astro Bot, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Helldivers 2 to claim the title of Ultimate Game of the Year at the U.K.’s Golden Joystick Awards.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Helldivers 2 were the biggest winners of the night, taking home four trophies apiece; Helldivers 2 won both the Critics’ Choice Award and Console Game of the Year. PC Game of the Year was Satisfactory and Best Game Expansion was Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (which, absent a similar category, has controversially been nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards). GOTY frontrunner Astro Bot had to make do with Best Audio Design and Studio of the Year for its developer Team Asobi, while critical darling Metaphor: ReFantazio went home empty-handed. Indie favorite Balatro won two awards.

The result is something of a shock in the Game of the Year race: Though popular with gamers, Black Myth didn’t review as well as some of its competition, while the majority of its huge sales success comes from the Chinese market.

Unlike other gaming awards, most categories in the Golden Joysticks are 100% determined by public vote, so Black Myth’s win indicates just how activated its fanbase is. The game’s solid action gameplay and cutting-edge, spectacular visuals have clearly won it broad support. There’s also a culture-war element to its popularity; Game Science became politically controversial after IGN reported on the alleged misogyny of its leadership, which has rallied some conservative online culture warriors to the game’s cause.

This level of support boosts Black Myth: Wukong’s chances at The Game Awards on Dec. 12, where it is also nominated for Game of the Year. But it only boosts them by so much. Public voting only counts toward 10% of the final result at The Game Awards, with the remaining 90% coming from the voting jury of critics and games media publications. Though broad and international, the jury is still likely to favor the five other nominees over Black Myth, all of which have 90-plus ratings on Metacritic, where Game Science’s game only has a rating of 81.

The Golden Joystick Awards is a venerable British institution that has been around in one form or another since 1983. The first Game of the Year winner was Jetpac by Ultimate Play The Game, the studio that would later become Rare. The Golden Joysticks is owned by Future plc, which publishes outlets like PC Gamer, Edge, and GamesRadar.

Here’s the full list of 2024 Golden Joystick winners: